The Creation and Annunciation from the Coëtivy Hours

Dunois Master, attributed to

Folio with three-quarter page miniature from a book of hours attributed to the Dunois Master, written in Latin and French in a bastarda script, made in Paris and dated 1443–1445. It was commissioned by Prigent de Coëtivy (1399?–1450) on the occasion of his marriage to Marie de Rais (1429–1457). Removed from the bound volume between 1933 and 1960. Beneath rubrics in blue, a prayer to Jesus Christ opens with the illuminated initial 'D' (Domine ihesu christe qui in hunc mundum de) painted with white, red, blue and gold ivy-leaf ornament. The miniature is painted in demi-grisaille with pigments and gold and extends into the lower margin with the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary. The Archangel Gabriel delivers the message that she will conceive a child. The main frame contains a view of the cosmos surmounted by God seated on a throne of red seraphim and surrounded by angels. He sends Jesus (carrying his cross) with the Holy Spirit down to Earth. The then known planets of the Geocentric Solar System are identified as Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The signs of the zodiac run down the sides of the page, each individually identified. The margins of the verso are inhabited by a pheasant, putti and lady with a unicorn. Medieval bestiaries (book of beasts) note that a unicorn could only be caught by a virgin.